domingo, 7 de julho de 2013

You must be wondering where we've been, right? Well, it's been a long ride and with very slow or nonexistent internet. The best time for postings is after 11 pm or before 7 am, so I couldn't make any of those since we arrived from our camping trip. Let's get updated then.
We left for our camping trip Thursday morning around 9:00 am. It was a 7 Km hike up a trail in Garibaldi Park on Chakamus Lake. It was a stunning view of lake almost all the way and this turquoise water following our path, we had to be careful not to get too distracted and end up tripping on a rock. The weather couldn't have been better, with sunshine and a bit of cool wind sometimes, As we arrived we had our lunch snack, which was ready in a bag, and later set up our tents. When everything was ready, we all stayed at the "beach", which is sort of the shore of hte lake. There we played games, made bracelets, talked about our experience that week and just chilled out. For dinner, we made some squash and cinnamon instant soup and tortillas with beef and cheese. Pretty good for a camping meal! The night fell slowly and way too cold, so most of us slept so so, but I guess that's part of the camping experience: really appreciating your warm and cozy bed when you're back. On the next day we made tea and great oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts. some people also had bagels. As soon as we finished cleaning breakfast, we started to pack our things to head back down - the sleeping bag and pad, the tent, food, etc. We were ready around 11:30 and when we were half way through the hike down, we stopped for our last meal: tortillas, pepperoni, humus, carrots and trail mix (nuts, raisins and m&ms. When we finally got down, we were exhausted and sun was already starting to burn hard and then we saw the undescribable view of our yellow school bus, Saint Cliff, our dear driver. We were pretty beaten up when we got back to the dorms, around 4:00 pm, so it was just laundry and dorm time until dinner. The night was quite exciting though. We had Campers' Talent Show (Tamwood's Got Talent). Rafa showed his funny dance move and made everyone join in the fun, Dani and I sang "Garota de Ipanema", Cadu and Rafa played a soccer trick dribbling the ball over Rafa, and finally Cadu and his Italian friend Mateo played a song with their bodies - Mateo making a funny sound with his arm pit and Cadu making a nice match with a sound between his hands. Everyone took part and we all cheered for every act. Super fun and group spirit at its best!
Today was much easier... We had a cool morning at the Village doing shoppings and looking around. We got back to camp for lunch and spent a fantastic afternoon up on the peaks. First we tok the chair lift up Whistler Mountain. There Rafa saw snow for the first time! We hiked quite a bit on the peak and had endless fights with snowballs. We then took the gondola to the second peak, Blackcomb Mountain. To go down, we took the chair lift again and ended up in Blackcomb Village, which is close to our camp but a very steep hike up the same mountain, and under boiling sun. We got back just in time to sort our things out and get ready for dinner. Now, tonight was Rockstar Disco! It was an awesome time, because the counselors had organized some very fun games to play at the beginning to get us warmed up with the music and the group integrated. The party was a blast! Everyone danced and let themselves mingle with this special group we have this year at Tamwood. They also handed out the weekly awards for the week, one for each group. Guess who won in our Explorers goup for speaking lots of English and being a great teammate to the group? Dani!!! Congrats! He really deserved it! And the other 2 awards for the other 2 groups went to 2 Brazilians as well, so I guess we're doing pretty good out here.
Tomorrow we'll go to Lost Lake in the morning and see movies down at the Village in the afternoon. It should be great fun!